Murmurs of Earth
by DC Oskowski
Summary: 7 years after season 2. An Imperious Leader has emerged to rule the Cylons. A Galactica discovery in space lends clues as to the where abouts of Earth. Baltar, now banished, plots with Six to rise against the Cylon leader.
1. Chapter 1

"They will find Earth. Sooner then you may realize." A soft, sultry whisper is heard in the ear of Gaius Baltar as he stands on the deck of his lakeside home back on Caprica. Baltar, almost in a trance of solitude continued to gaze upon the mountain peaks that served as the background to the home he had spent many evenings entertaining his numerous visitors of the female persuasion. That was before he turned his back against humanity seven years ago. Now, the lake view, the surrounding mountains and the home from which he lived in exist now only in his head.

The beautiful blonde-haired woman in a short silver sequent dress that stood beside him was also a delusion within his genius mind. At times, the long legged beauty exhibited the unusual ability of physical interactions with Baltar. Mostly it was sexual with a tendency to veer towards violence when the situation called for it and Baltar was always at the end of both. These physical occurrences perhaps indicated that she was more then just an illusion from memories of a woman he once knew. Natasi was her alias back on Capricabut then Baltar learned under the harshes of circumstances that she was a Cylon model that looked, smelled and felt like a human.

She was model Number Six of the Cylon's original twelve models. That was until Model Number Eight gave birth to a Cylon Hybrid, the thirteenth model of Cylon. The childs father was human, Karl "Helo" Agathon of the Battlestar Galactica. The mothers human alias was Sharon Valerii, a crew member and Cylon sleeper agent aboard the Galactica. Six had always had her doubts about the "Sharon" model. Those doubts had been confirmed as she had proven to be more of a hinderence to the Cylon master plan. It was the Number Eight model and a weaker version of the Model Six that was responsible for the Cylon Civil War. It was the war that caused the depletion of the Cylon numbers. Now the Colonial fleet of 57, 324 people now outnumbered the Cylons three to one.

During the war both sides of Cylons destroyed all possible methods of resurrection, both on and off the Cylon homeworld. The War was benefital to mankind as it weakened the Cylons in the sense that once they where killed, there was no worries that their Cylon souls would reincarnate into another. The Cylons had now taken on every trait of mankind. It was an irony that most Cylons did not care for. Even though they were indentical in almost everyway with no advantage over the other, the Cylons still believed they are the superior species. Six was one of these such Cylons that still believed. From this point is was souly about religions. Who's God or God's were better.

"Are you not listening to me?" the blonde Cylon screamed in annoyance of Baltar's lack of interest in her comment.

Baltar shuttered as he awoke himself from his lost gaze. "I am sorry. You were saying something?" his ancient wavering nervously.

"Gaius, Earth is close. We will soon be arriving at the moment where the day of reckoning will come and your true purpose to the one true God will finally be revealed."

Gaius Baltar stared with a sardonic half smile back out at the lake as the setting Sun's rays glistened off it. He had heard this speech before. "My true purpose, you say? Apparently, His word has not been clear enough for you. My part in the destruction of the colonies, my decision as President to colonize New Caprica, which I should remind you was not exactly a roaring success and…And as which arrived me here at my current portrayal of some pathetic sycophant to your antiquated leader. A leader that is, of what is left of your Cylon brethren."

The Cylons jaw clenched. "However less in numbers we are and whatever obsolete figurehead may try to lead us, we are still the children of the one true God and when the day comes for judgment to be past it will be us and not the humans that will survive his fury."

"Don't you think your "judgment day" may have already past?" Baltar said, still with a lump of nervousness in his throat. "Everything that I have done has not made a difference in your Cylon master plan. My actions have only strengthened the will of humanity. How am I expected to still believe that I am an instrument of your one true God, if everything that I do in the end benefits the one that your God intends to inflict his suffering on? Makes you want to reevaluate that supposed purpose, doesn't it?"

"Don't allow superficial appearances to blur the truth, Gaius. All of these events have a reason. The Civil War might have reduced us in numbers, but it also weeded out the models that were weak and unreliable. The Cylon race stands stronger now, more then ever. Once we find Earth, all that has happened before will happen again."

Baltar was mentally too tired to argue with Six any longer. It had been a hard seven years. The weight of his past had finally started to show its ill affects on him. On his final day on New Caprica, Baltar found himself at the ultimate of crossroads. As the humans won their independence from the occupying Cylon's, Admiral Adama left Baltar behind on New Caprica after the Doctor was discovered as the Cylon conspirator responsible for the penetration of the Colonial defenses and the fall of the Colonies. He was left with little choice; he had to take the side of the Cylons completely. Forced to either die alone on New Caprica or take salvation from the Cylons whose soul purpose was to annihilate all humans. He had already unwittingly helped Number Six gain access to the colonial defenses resulting in the destruction of the Twelve Colonies. What was left of humanity had left him for dead. It was time to return the favor. _All that has happened before will happen gain._

The young girl stood about twenty feet away from Lieutenant Carl "Helo" Agathon. She was trying to tell him something but her yells could not be heard over the windstorm that seemed to have come from nowhere. He could tell she was pointing up into the sky at something, but the wind was throwing around dirt and other debris that kept him from seeing what had her attention. As Helo edged closer to the girl, the wind blew harder causing the dirt and debris to blind him even more. With his right arm up in his face, he would systematically peek out over his forearm every other step while keeping the girl in his extremely limited sight. As the wind grew stronger, the girl eventually became a blur and then vanished within the dirt and debris. Helo fought through the wind and everything else that was being thrown at him. The vortex that the wind had created around Helo was sucking every breath out of him. When he approached the spot from where he last saw the girl he reached out with his left arm, but as quickly as the storm came it left. The girl had seemed to disappear along with the windstorm, as she was nowhere to be found. Crouched over, Helo tried to catch his breath. He took one last deep breath before looking up at where the girl was pointing. It was beautiful. There were continents and oceans. The planet's glorious sight caught Helo completely off guard. His amazement soon turned into a petrified shock as the planet developed into a horrifying recall of his own past. In a brief, but horrifying moment on all the continents there appeared large mushroom clouds from explosions on the ground. _No!_ The ground below Helo began to shake, knocking him off his feet and hitting his head against the ground in the process. Helo, now on the verge of unconsciousness stared up at the unknown planet. It was now ultimately destroyed much the same as Caprica and the other colonies. His vision now blurred, the girl had returned in front of him. She reached out to give him a slim gold disk and when she tried to speak to him no words came out of her mouth, but the sounds of birds and the swaying of ocean waves. Beneath him, the ground shook violently as his fight with unconsciousness was lost. Everything soon turned to black.

"Helo!" a murmured voice rang out.

"Helo!" the voice called out again, this time sounding more familiar. "Get the frak out of bed!"

Helo awoke from his dream, the third one like it this week. Over the intercom, Lt. Gaeta was calling everyone to action stations while Starbuck stood at the hatch of the barrack with impatient eyes. Still groggy, Helo managed to exit his bunk and throw on his gear as quickly as possible.

"You're worse then a woman." Starbuck said under anxious breath. "This isn't a beauty pageant, it's a Cylon attack!"


	2. Chapter 2

In the Combat Information Center (CIC), Lt. Gaeta while leaning over his Dradis display was reporting to Admiral Adama about the incoming Cylon attack. "We have one, no two Basestars and at least six squadrons of incoming Raiders."

"Don't they ever give up?" Colonial Tigh said in his usual bitter tone as he entered the CIC.

Adama looked across the Dradis counsel at Tigh. He knew the question was rhetorical as well as sardonic, but deep down he asked the question seriously to himself. After all these years, he had finally realized that with the Cylons not only taking on humanities appearance they also took on the trait of humanities resilience. "No. They don't." he said flatly.

Tigh looked back at Adama with a puzzled look, as he was not expecting an answer. Adama was now looking up at the Dradis screen above his head. Adama seeing the screen blanketed with enemy fighters decided it was time to mimic the Cylons resilience with some of their own. "Scramble the fighters."

Gaeta took the order, picked up a nearby handset and notified the flight deck to begin launching the Vipers.

Down on the flight deck of the Galactica Viper pilots scrambled to their respectable fighter, the Mach II and Mach VII colonial Vipers. The Mach II Vipers, considered ancient history before the attack on the colonies was the saving grace of humanity. The obsolete programming aboard the fighters was what saved the neck of humanity. The Cylon virus that rendered all of Colonial fleet's fighters and Battlestars only worked on systems that operated on a network. The Mach II, not affected by the computer virus was able to defend what was left of humanity. The Mach VII Vipers that survived were in need of some major overhaul. Soon after the first attack, the fighter's computer systems programming was rewritten. With that, the Cylon Virus could affect none of the fighters.

The Alert Fighters were already prepared for launch and where heading towards the beehive that was the Cylon Raiders racing towards the fleet.

"Galactica, this is Apollo. Alert fighters are on intercept course." Commander Apollo said as the crew of the CIC could hear the static laced voice of Adama's son back on the Galactica.

"Roger that Apollo." Communication Officer Dana Cassia replied.

It had been seven years and he still had not been able to get use to not hearing Dee on the other line. There are a lot of things he missed about Dee. Her voice was the only constant he had in battle. Nevertheless, of course, it was battle with the Cylons that lead to her death. When she died aboard the Pegasus, Apollo did not know how to handle it. Starbuck tried relentlessly to get Apollo out from the shadows he had fallen into, but it was only Apollo that could save himself from falling any further. Eventually he adjusted and faced the fact that like his brother Zak, she was not coming back and still, life had to move forward. Even so, with every Cylon attack he still expected to hear Dee on the other line.

On Galactica in the CIC, Adama and Tigh weighed their options. The two, as they have many times before stared at the Dradis screen. The odds, however better then they have ever been, still worked against them.

"We can't just sit here. The fleet won't last when we're that outnumbered." Tigh said, admitting the obvious. "We need to plot a jump and fast."

Adama agreed. "Lt. Gaeta."

"Yes Admiral." Gaeta said, as he pealed himself away from his handset.

"Plot a jump outside of this system. Get us as far away from the Cylons as possible. It's time we get ourselves a little reprieve."

"Yes sir." The Lt. said as he finished up with his conversation with who ever was on the other line and began preparing his plot out of the current system.

"Apollo, this is Starbuck. We are right behind you." Starbuck said over the radio as they raced to the rest of the dispatched Vipers.

"Copy that Starbuck. People, we only need to give Galactica and the fleet enough time to plot a jump. Let's not get caught too far out. I expect to see you all on deck when the Galactica is set to jump"

With the last remnants of humanity only a few clicks away, the outnumbered Vipers intercepted the approaching Raiders. The clash resulted in a climatic firefight as the animalistic Raiders began their assault. In the beginning, the Vipers faired well as they inflicted their share of damage.

Off in the distance behind the attacking Raiders the two Basestars kept their ground as they portrayed themselves as only spectators to the attack.

"Those Basestars…They're just sitting there?" Starbuck said over the radio as she took on enemy fire.

"I don't have a problem…" Cat began to say as she paused to cut down a Cylon Raider. "…with that. Let them sit there."

"I'm not complaining. It just doesn't make sense. Normally they would be launching nukes at the fleet by now." Starbuck replied. To Starbuck it was almost more disturbing that they were not attacking. It was causing her to pay more attention to the Basestars with them not doing anything as oppose to their normal barrage of nukes.

Gaius and Six had now retreated from the deck of his home to the more comfortable furnishings of Baltar's bedroom. Six slithered onto his bed as Gaius clumsily tried to remove his clothes. Six positioned herself on her back with a hazy stare. Gaius now finished thumbing his way through his belt and pants lowered himself onto his bed and between Six's legs. The two began the one activity that both seemed to be in complete agreement on. As the two bodies worked together in unison, the murmurs of moans and sighs escalated with every steamy second that pasted. Gaius was feeling a sense of cockiness as he confidently felt that he was satisfying the sexy blonde-haired seductress's every desire. "Yes!" He screamed aloud. He did again, this time louder for good measure. "Yes!"

Just as Baltar came to realize that, he had full control of the situation as it quickly slipped away from him. In a blink of an eye, Six flipped Gaius onto his back. With Baltar's head hanging over the edge of the bed, he opened his eyes to see a figure upside down staring over him. With a frightened shake of his head, he awoke from his dream. As usual, he found himself in another awkward position as he lay upside down in his command chair aboard one of the two Basestars. The figure still stood there.

"Do you require my assistance, Master Baltar?" the figure said in a frustrated electronic tone.

Baltar quickly righted himself. "Ah, no thank you. I'll be quite all right. Did you have something to report?"

"I was not sure if your "Yes" was a confirmation to begin the full scale attack on the fleet?" The metal clad android asked. The android was one of three IL-Series of Cylon that emerged along with the Imperious Leader near the end of the Cylon Civil War. The IL series was one of the original Cylons that fought in the Cylon war over 50 years ago. As far as the current Cylon models, like Six the IL-Series was nothing but over programmed ass kissers. They took commands, nothing more and nothing less. Their purpose contrasted with everything the current models now stood for.

"The fleet, Are they near?" Baltar replied, as he was unaware of the current situation.

"We have dispatched Raiders and they are in combat with the humans as we speak. I am awaiting your further orders." The android responded as its narrow domed-head glowed a fiery red.

Six leaned over Gaius's command chair as she rubbed the tense shoulders of Baltar. "Here's our chance. We can finally rid ourselves of that fleet. We have them right where we want them."

Baltar took Six's words to heart. "Yes. Begin the attack."

"By your command." The android said as it bowed and turned to leave.

"But then," Six paused.

"But then, what?" Baltar's reply reeked of fear.

"If you destroy the rest of humanity, what use will us Cylons have for you? You might as well consider that order, an order for your own death. You are only alive due to your promise that you alone can find Earth. And, we both know that the only way you're going to find Earth is by keeping Adama alive."

Baltar hesitated a moment, but only a moment. "Haddad!" Baltar yelped, calling for the android.

Haddad turned back around, just before exiting. "What is it, Master Baltar?"

"Could you not do that?" He said with a crackle in his voice. "I mean, I have changed my mind. Yes, it would be best to keep tracking the fleet. Do not begin the assault. In fact, do fire your missiles, but make sure you never activate the warheads. We don't want it to look like we're letting them get away. Do we?"

"No sir, if that is your command?" the android replied. His own processors did not exactly see the logic in Baltar answer. Baltar himself claimed he knew the location of Earth. The fleet according to Baltar was lost without him and was sure to die before finding Earth. Now he has a chance at ridding himself of the ones who abandoned him and he decides to keep them alive. The androids logic chip he thought may be in need of repairs, as this decision did not compute.


	3. Chapter 3

Starbuck was firghtingly pleased to see that the Basestars were finally deploying their normal assault of missiles as the delay in their actions concerned her. Signaling that the Cylons didn't have some grander scheme. The relief that she felt was quickly overcame by the realization that she now had to shoot down those missiles before they reached the fleet.

"Starbuck, I'll need you and Kat to knock down those missiles." Apollo radioed over to the two pilots, knowing that they were already in pursuit.

The vapor of the six missiles fired by the Basestars trailed half way to the fleet before Starbuck and Kat reached within firing range. The two Vipers split up, each taking however as many missiles they could take out. Given the limited amount of time the two viper pilots took aim and eliminated most of the missiles at an alarming ease.

Starbuck trailed one of the last two missiles. Ahead of it, she could see the fleet edging closer.

Kat was chasing the other remaining missile. As she approached the missile on it's right side, she took aim at the warhead. With her finger firmly pressed against the trigger, her Viper's bullets sprayed across space towards the missile. Unbeknown to her, the warhead was unarmed. Regardless of the outcome of her efforts if the missile were to hit the Galactica it simply would shatter amongst contact. The fleet's protector and Kat's home would still be left with barely a scratch. None-the-less, she was able to make a direct hit causing a brilliant explosion. To her, she just made one step further at saving the Galactica.

"I got it!" Kat declared. Her voice garbled as it came over the radio.

Starbuck's pride was beginning to bruise as she tried to race ahead of the missile. Her visibility became poor with the missiles vapor acting as a shield to the missile. With the possibility that she might not be able to get a clear shot, she looked ahead again at the fleet and the Galactica where the missile appeared to be heading. She knew she needed to warn them of the possibility of her failure to down the nuke.

"Galactica, this is Starbuck. You have an incoming nuke. Prepare for a possible impact."

Starbuck pushed her viper as hard as she could. She had reached the point where even without a clear shot, not making an attempt would be idiotic. Blindly, she began firing. The sound of her Viper's gun's rapid fire reverberated throughout the cockpit. The repetitive thud stopped as Starbuck released her finger from the trigger. An alarm within the cockpit had been set off. The words "weapons malfunction" flashed up in the right hand corner of her Dradis console. "That's great." Starbuck had no weapons and the missile was still heading in a direct line to the Galactica and she had no way of knocking the missile out of commission. Kit was pulled too far off course to come to her assistance. Starbuck needed another plan. But, with an unsettling sensation there was no ideas, words or phrases appearing outside of that box that most average minds worked within.

In the CIC Adama gave the Dradis screen a defiant stare. His eyes concentrated on the incoming missile and the blip that portrayed Starbuck and her Viper. She had come through before in times like this. He had no reason to think this was going to be no different. She is more then unorthodox in her ways and Adama thanked the Gods for that. It was that unorthodox thinking that has saved humanity more times then Adama would like to think about. He figured that it was that random way of thinking that would be what saved their collective behinds in this moment of crisis. Adama wasn't about taking chances like Starbuck just for the sake of it. He still knew what had to be done. "Mr. Gaeta. Do you have the coordinates for the jump?"

"Yes. They are ready to be sent, sir." Gaeta replied calmly.

"Get them out to the fleet. Tell them to get the hell out of here. Inform them we will be with them shortly."

"Yes sir."

A few tantalizing moments past as the drama unfolded on the CIC. Cassia stood at her post as she spoke to someone on her headset. She soon looked over to Adama. "Sir. I have the President on the line."

Adama looked over at Tigh. Both men had an uneasy look. Adama picked up his handset. "This is Adama."

"Admiral. Is there a reason that you're sending the fleet away without the protection of the Galactica?"

"I have a pilot out there. I'm not willing to leave her behind."

"I see. Captain Thrace, I presume?"

"Yes."

"I appreciate the many times she has proven her worth to our plight. But, how many times is her life going to be chosen over the welfare of the fleet?"

Adama sighed. "President Zarek, if it was anyone of my pilots, I would do the same."

"But, you see that's exactly my point. It is never another pilot. That is because your other pilots are responsible when it comes to their own actions."

"I understand your concern. But, this is a military decision."

"A military decision. That may of worked when President Roslin was in Office. But this is a different administration, Admiral Adama." Zarek bit back.

"That, I am aware of." Adama returned Zarek's ire.

"I hope that your military decision doesn't leads to the end of our race."

"I assure you Mr. president, it will not."

"Please forgive me for not sharing in your confidence."

With that, Zarek dropped off the line.

Adama with his eyes trained on the Dradis again, watched the civilian ships including the Colonial One vanish from the Dradis screen as they jumped to the new coordinates. "Cassia, recall the Vipers. Tell them to be prepared for a jump once they land."

Officer Cassia took the order and acted swiftly. "Vipers pilots, come back home and prepare for jump. I repeat, comeback home and prepare for jump."

Amidst the wreckage of Raiders and Vipers Apollo responded to the order. "You heard her. Get back to the Galactica."

"Frak!" Starbuck still in pursuit of the missile was beginning to realize that it was inevitable that the nuke was going to hit the Galactica. But, her unorthodox way still had the best of her.

"She's not pulling away." Colonial Tigh said with surprise and frustration. Even after all these years he was caught off guard when Starbuck tried something stupid. Adama called it unorthodox. Tigh considered it stupidity. "The longer she stays with that thing, the less chance we have to jump. We can't just open fire with her in Galactica's solution either. The only other option is to jump without her."

"No." Adama picked up his handset as he opened a channel throughout the ship. "This is the Admiral. Prepare for impact."

"We're taking an awful risk. Depending on the damage, we could be stuck here for a long time while the fleet is left alone, to be picked apart by a passing Cylon fleet. I'd hate to see Tom Zarek prove you wrong."

"She's going to do it." Adama said adamantly. "The fleet will be fine. Besides, even if we could open fire, the likely hood of us hitting a lone nuke, is minimal."

Tigh chuckled seriously. "If she didn't think with her ego, we wouldn't be talking about the odds. "

All Vipers, except for Starbuck are accounted for." Cassia announced.

Adama gave Cassia a quick look of confirmation then returned his eyes to the Dradis screen. Starbuck's location edged closer and closer to the bottom of the Dradis indicating her proximity to the Galactica.

_Why haven't they jumped yet? _Even Starbuck found her ability to come through in the clutch a burden. _Adama has too much faith in me._

Baltar aboard his Basestar watched as the lone nuke blasted its way towards the Galactica. He imagined that the crazy Viper pilot was Starbuck. His intuition was correct. As he watched he felt relieved that he had ordered the warheads to be disabled on the nukes. From where he stood, there was no way Starbuck was going to down the nuke in time. It was going to hit the Galactica straight on. If anything was to happen to Adama, Baltar was done for. He was sure he could put up a good show for a few months, but the Cylons would quickly become impatient and do away with him.

As the missile closed in on the battlestar, the Viper pulled away.

"Sorry Galactica." Starbuck said, as she pulled up hard on her controls.

Baltar stood at the monitor with a cooling calm flowing though his body. Soon the charade would be over and Galactica was going to jump. His Basestars would of course follow as they continue to track the fleet. With the Viper pulling further away from Galactica, Baltar turned to walk away from the monitor as well. He had no need to see the splintering of the missile against the hard shell of the Galactica.

What was to suppose be an innocent thud, was much more. Baltar's cooling calm, began to become a boiling caldron of hysteria. He knew something wasn't right. His chest tightened. He turned back around in frantic horror at his display. Hunched over with one hand clenched to the console and the other wiping the immense sweat from his forehead he did not want to believe what he saw. In a moment of petrified grief just one thought came to his genius mind. _I am a dead man_.


	4. Chapter 4

"Haddad." Baltar said with a faulty whimper as he tried to gather himself. Baltar then tried it again with a little more gusto and urgency. "Haddad!"

Baltar looked at the sight of Galactica as flames arose from the impact and explosion of the live nuclear warhead. From behind him Haddad entered the command center.

"Yes, Master Baltar?" the android said, seemingly unaware of the mishap.

"Look." Baltar said frantically, pointing at the monitor.

Haddad leaned over. His red glaring eyes stared at the display. "It appears the missiles warhead had somehow become active?"

Baltar gave Haddad a look of disbelief. "Somehow became active? How do you suppose that happened? I specifically requested that the warheads to be disabled."

Haddad originally heard the order and intended to follow through with it. His programming demanded it. But Baltar was not aware that Haddad was following another order from a much higher power with the ability to override the IL-Series primary protocol. Shortly after leaving the command center Haddad had received a command from another location in space located within the Cylon fleet. His order now was to ignore Baltar's command to disarm the warheads, leaving them active to cause the most amount of damage possible to the Human's fleet. He followed the orders of Ones and Zeros exactly as he received them. Included in that overriding order was another. Once decoded by Haddad it gave him an artificial sense of satisfaction. An order that Baltar would wish he could override himself.

Aboard the Galactica the radiation alarms sounded throughout the Battlestar. In the CIC the crew began to gather themselves as most were knocked off of their feet from the blast. After a few anxious minutes of confusion, Adama reached his feet.

"Damage report." He said as a thin stream of blood ran down the side of his temple.

Colonial Tigh tugged on the bottom of his officer jacket as he straightened himself out from the impact of the missile. His eyes met Adama's. The Old Man after all these years was a shell of the officer Tigh once knew. He had to admit that he himself was no spring chicken either. Between the Galactica's Sharon's failed assassination attempt on Adama's life to Caprica Sharon's sacrificing her own life to save Adama, he had changed. Depending on whom you asked, you would get different answers. Tigh tended to think that Adama had lost faith. Not in a religious manner, but more so of not being able to trust his own instincts.

Adama gave up trying to trust Sharon only to be proven wrong by her taking a bullet for a man who had imprisoned her as well had taken her baby away. Both actions were in the best interest of the fleet. But Adama had a hard time dealing with the realization that it was his lack of trust that led him to both decisions. Still, after all he had done, Sharon sacrificed herself. He has since pondered that perhaps the wrong person died that day. He often thought that she was right. Maybe humanity didn't deserve to survive.

"Reports are just coming in." Lt. Gaeta said between gasps of air. He had fallen against the Dradis console when the missile hit, knocking the wind out of him. He had taken a look around the CIC and it appeared to his relief that everyone seemed to not be suffering any major injures. The reports had been rolling off the printers and he hoped the news on the 4 corners clipped sheets of paper was just as good.

"Aft hull damage is being reported, sir." Gaeta continued. "Faster Then Light Drive's Navigation systems are offline due to the direct hit to engineering and…" Gaeta paused. Even though it was all bad news that he read, it was the next line that caused him to shutter nervously. With his pupils dilated Gaeta continued. "Coordinates for the fleets new location have been lost."

"We've lost the fleet?" Tigh responded. "How soon till we have their location, Lieutenant?"

Gaeta left his post and walked over to Tigh and Adama at the Dradis Console. "With the FTL Navigation system offline it could be hours before we could plot a accurate jump to the fleet or anywhere. That is if we _can_ repair it."

"Well, get to it then." Tigh ordered.

"Yes, sir."

Adama continued to stare at the Dradis. Tigh looked up at the Dradis screen as well on his side of the Dradis console. He knew exactly what Adama's attention was focused on. "The Basestars have recalled their Raiders. We're ripe for the taking and they're recalling their fighters?"

It didn't sit well with Adama either. There was only one reason for this.

"They're going after the civilian fleet." Adama announced. "They know we're stuck in the mud and they have the fleets coordinates."

"We need to do something." Tigh said with urgency.

"Mr. Gaeta, do we have firing capabilities?" Adama inquired.

Gaeta looked over his information hectically. "Yes."

"Concentrate fire on one of the two Basestars. Lets at least eliminate one of them before they jump. We need to give the fleet some kind of a fighting chance."

"Yes, sir." Gaeta responded. "It appears the fire has been brought under control in engineering."

"Even one Basestar will cut the fleet to shreds without the protection of Galactica." Tigh said with a dark matter of fact tone.

Adama took off his glasses to massage his tired eyes. "I know."

Baltar paced the command center frantically. He needed to give himself some extra time to think. Recalling the Raiders was a beginning, as that would give him just enough time to come up with something. What that was, he wasn't sure. He knew someone was now working against him.

"Their next move will be to kill you." Six said as she sat in Baltar's command chair with her legs crossed and her eyes fixed on Baltar.

"Do you think?" Baltar said shortly. That realization that his life was in danger more so then before came shortly after seeing the Galactica aft in flames. He did not need Six to explain the looming doom of his situation.

"You need to escape."

"Really. How do you suppose I do that? Where shall I go?"

Six stood up from the command chair and walked over to the flush faced Baltar. She began combing her fingers through his hair. His eyes rolled back and then closed. For a moment he felt relaxed by her soothing act. "Galactica appears to have put the fire out from the blast. I'd figure within minutes they will be jumping to the fleet. That is if they're capable of a Faster Then Light jump. If not, they'll just sit there, unable to come to the rescue of the fleet."

"The fleet is fine, no one knows their location except for me and…" Baltar paused. Everything that had happened was beginning to make sense. "Haddad."

Six had a look of pride on her face as a mother would when her child accomplished a goal. "He has probably already sent the coordinates of the fleet to the Imperious Leader. It would only take a matter of minutes for a Cylon fleet to intercept it and even less to annihilate the unarmed civilian ships."

In space the Galactica began firing their turrets at the Basestar stationed next to Baltar's. Gaius was pleasantly surprised at the Galactica's actions. _They're not jumping; they're firing back_. This was an odd play for the Galactica indeed. It appeared that they didn't have FTL capability. Everything was falling into place and Baltar could hardly believe it.

He gave himself a minute to gather all of the information swirling around in his head. With little amazement of himself, he had devised a plan to save his own skin. It was a simple plan, but it needed the Galactica to stay right where they are. Keeping Adama alive was no longer a concern for him as the Cylons wanted Baltar dead. He had stopped caring about finding Earth a long time ago. He really couldn't remember the last time he concerned himself with that issue at all.

Baltar needed proof that the Galactica was dead in the water and the incoming fire that the neighboring Basestar was taking was proof enough.

He knew he could no longer trust Haddad to follow through with his Baltar's orders. It was up to him to make the destruction of the Galactica so. Now in his command chair, he began typing boisterously on the keyboard attached to the command chair. The Basestar continued to take fire, without any responding attack. The destruction of the Basestar appeared to be part of Baltar's plan.

Baltar continued typing with Six now by his side. "What are you doing?" Six asked as she looked on quizzically over his shoulder.

"I'm stealing a page from your own Cylon playbook, my dear." Gaius replied. "I have command of these Basestars. And with that, access to the Cylon Mainframe of these Basestars. I'm letting Galactica do the dirty work for me. I need that Basestar destroyed."

"There are thousands of Cylons on that Basestar." Six responded in anger.

"Better them, then me."

In the CIC, Adama and Tigh watched as the ease of the destruction of the Basestar was becoming apparent.

Tigh, still trying to recover from the aches and pains of the nuke's impact turned to Adama. "Why are they not returning fire? Who ever has control of those Basestars is a fraking idiot."

Baltar sat firmly in his command chair as he stared out at the one-sided firefight commencing in space. Behind him Haddad entered with two Centurions on each of his side. Baltar could hear the clanking of the Centurions march towards him. The brooding bullet head designed Cylons lurked closer. Baltar reflected an unusual calm on his face, even with the Centurions edging closer, with no doubt sharing the intent with Haddad to end Baltar's life.

Haddad now stood in front of Baltar as the Centurion's lifeless red beam of light swaying back in forth. "I am aware of your infiltration of the Basestar Mainframe. I will now need you to relinquish your control over our defenses." Haddad said.

Baltar stared at Haddad. With a fortified smile from Baltar, Haddad had his answer.

"I see. I was commanded to wait till we found the civilian fleet again to discard you of your life, but with your treasonous actions you have forced me to commence in that order earlier then expected."

"I have control of the mainframe, Haddad. There is nothing that you can do." Baltar replied quite confidently.

"Your control of the Basestar's systems has no affect over me. I am not linked to the Basestar's network. Your plan has failed."

"You're right, I do not have control of you." Baltar confessed. "But, I do have control of these Centurions."

With a tap of a button on his command chair console by Baltar, the order ran though the Cylon Basestar Mainframe backdoor he had created. In a second the command reached the two centurions. As the command computed, the two Centurions turned on their fellow Cylon and opened fire on the IL-Series android. In the process each centurion was caught in each other's crossfire. In a loud violent sight of flying bullets and sparks, all three Cylons fell to the ground. Simultaneously in space the Basestar under attack by the Galactica exploded within a chain of explosions.

Baltar stood up from his command chair and walked through the smoke of the smoldering wires and hardware of the three dead Cylons. He comfortably knew that due to the IL-Series out of date programming he did not have the ability to resurrect. The Cylon fleet, he was sure would try to communicate back to the IL-Series Android to confirm the completion of his orders. He had little time to act. He knew the Cylons had the civilian fleet location and were probably already in route to them. Baltar had to get there quickly, but he still had one last pressing issue. _What to do about the Galactica?_


	5. Chapter 5

The Cylon fleet swarmed by squadrons of Raiders and several Basestars moved ominously through space. Surrounded by the Basestars was another ship that resembled the nearby Basestars. Its appearance was identical; its size was not. It was three times the size of the Basestars that surrounded it. Its position within the fleet served as a means of protection by the surrounding Cylon fleet. It was now _the_ Basestar were all of the Cylons operations where run through. It also held the last means of resurrection. Unbeknown to the humans the Cylon had recreated their one true advantage over humanity.

Amongst the Resurrection facility and within the inner workings of the gigantic Basestar was another valued piece of the Cylons structure. Its soul existence emerged from an almost forgotten Cylon past. Thought to be lost during the first Cylon War, its reappearance brought unity to the Cylons at their darkest hour. It reminded the Cylons of their true destiny. The genocide of the Colonies and the hunt of the remains of humanity, once considered mistakes by the Cylons were now their meaning of their existence. With the return of this lost model of Cylon, it reminded the Cylons of their previous struggles. This Model had brought balance to the Cylons once again. As it was before, the Cylons had shared plan.

An IL-Series android stood in front of a closed metallic door way. Its hard cold surface stuck out amongst the blackened synthetic walls of the Basestar. The android waiting only a few moments longer before the door slid open. The android entered into a small oval chamber deep within the enormous Basestar. The chamber, with a misty atmosphere and dim lighting gave off a haunting experience. Like the walls outside the chamber its walls were made of the same synthetic material found within both Basestars and Raiders. In the center of the room stood a large metallic pedestal loomed over the chamber. It took on an alien like appearance with its smooth surface, which was like the entry door the android had just entered through. At the top of this pedestal, perched above everything in the room was an intimidating throne. Due to the lack of lighting in the chamber, perhaps done purposely the figure sitting in the throne appeared as a ghostly shadow to whom ever stood below.

The IR-Series android now standing within a few feet of the elevated throne knelt down before the pedestal and bowed its head in an act of worship and respect.

"What do you have to report?" a lurching voice echoed within the eerie chamber. Above the dark metallic pedestal sat a figure in the ominous throne. Draped in a robe, the figures facial and body features where left to the imagination of whom ever stood in its presence.

The android raised its head to speak, its ruby red eyes illuminated. "Word from the IL-Series agent sent to spy on Gaius Baltar, is that they have located the human fleet. All went as planned. The civilian ships are currently separated from the Battlestar as the Galactica has been immobilize."

"Excellent." The voice said in a slithery tone. "Proceed with the rest of our plan. Has the atrocity been readied for its departure?"

"Yes, my Imperious Leader." The hard metal emotionless face of the android still stared high above to the throne.

The Imperious Leader, once thought dead appeared on the Cylon home world in hopes of uniting the misguided Cylons. He was completely machine and void of any current advancement in Cylon technology. He was not a "skin job" as the humans would call it. He was one of the original models of Cylon. His programming still as it was 50 years ago. Although obsolete in many ways to the current models of Cylon his rank amongst the Cylons was as leader. Regardless of the lack of refinements to his inner workings, he was the Imperious Leader. He quickly took control of the Cylon fleet. He began eliminating those who brought confusion and misdirected leader ship. His first targets were the Sharon model and the Caprica Six model. They were considered war heroes, to the Lost Cylon Leader they where dissidents. It was Sharon model and Caprica Six that started the Civil war and unrest. Their speeches of the Cylon mistakes to destroy the 12 Colonies and to hunt down the human fleet brought discord within the Cylon community. As far as the Imperious Leader was concerned, Cylons where sophisticated computers and it was not computers that made mistakes, it was humans. By that logic, as far as the Imperious Leader was concerned their first act to eliminate the human race was correct.

Since his return, he Imperious Leader often found himself unsettled by the fact that the ones he led, the ones who he considered fellow Cylons looked and at times acted as if they were human too. After the human race was to be eliminated, he had played with the thought of eliminating the rest of what resembled humankind. It was a mere thought, but a dangerous one at that. The Cylons had almost become everything that the original Cylons had worked so hard to destroy. The Cylons had evolved in a direction that did not sit well with him.

"Did the IL-Series indicate if it had completed all of its orders?" asked the Imperious Leader.

The IL-Series android paused. Its silica pathways glowed a fiery red through its transparent pointed dome "We lost communication shortly after its last report. It is possible that the human has grown wise to our plan to kill him."

The Imperious Leader leaned forward in its throne. "Yes, as untrustworthy as Baltar is, he has unfortunately proven to be just as intelligent. Never the less, the time is now to make our final move. Deploy the Atrocity and send three Basestars to Baltar's location to finish him off."

"By your command." The android replied.

Laura Roslin sat on the starboard side of Colonial One as she stared out at the distant stars. It was an unsettling sight as from this vantage point it was unusual to see anything but the port side of the Galactica. The pin pricks of light however tranquil in appearance did not served as a means of relaxing. It had been five hours since the civilian fleet had jumped to its new coordinates and there was still no sign of the Galactica. _Bill, where are you?_

The silence in the Colonial One cabin spoke volumes to the concern that everyone must be feeling. The fleet never left alone for this long had begun to fear the worst. Roslin tried readily to not pay the situation of any thought. She distracted her mind with prayer asking the Lords of Kobol for a sign that lay proof to the Galactica was soon to return.

A few feet away at Presidents Zarek's desk, his phone rang. The sound startled her. Was this to be Roslin's sign? After only a second ring, an aid of the President picked up the phone. With a shake of her head, she leaned over to the President and whispered something to him as she handed the phone over to Zarek. After only a few seconds, Zarek hung up the phone. He stood at his desk for a moment in thought, pondering something. Roslin only had guesses as to what the details of the call had been about and a guessing game was not what she was in the mood to play. Her curiosity could wait no longer.

"Mr. President." Roslin gestured to Zarek. He looked over at Roslin and gave her a concerned smile. "Could I speak with you just for a moment?"

"Yes, of course."

Roslin stood up and approached Zarek's desk, a desk that once belonged to her. It was stacked with requests and reports from all over the fleet. Though she missed sitting behind the desk, she had forgotten all the paper work that went along with it. She was a schoolteacher by trade and reading was something she was quite use to. However, after her presidency had ended due to serving her full term, if she never read another report about rations again, it would be a welcomed blessing.

"I'm not one to pry," Roslin said with a nervous smile "but was that call related to Galactica's whereabouts?" she asked. She was not accustomed to not being in the known. The benefit of being President allowed her to have that ability. It was something she relinquished with resistance. Since then, Adama would time to time bring her up to speed, but his current absence prevented that from happening.

Zarek looked across the desk at Roslin. She had promised many things as President of the 12 Colonies and came close to following through on all of them. As President, Zarek had learned, you needed to make promises. Perhaps in your heart and mind, you intend to keep them. In the end, sometimes you just needed to tell people what they want to hear. Finding Earth was one of Roslin's promises. As President, she may not have completed that promise. He did not think she said it to hand out false hope. It was not one of those moments to tell the people what they wanted to hear. She was sincere and Zarek had not always believed that. The arrow of Apollo and the tomb of Athena proved him wrong. They had their differences. They never did share the same agenda but they did share the same faith in the Lords of Kobol.

What was brought to his attention just a moment ago through the wireless still reverberated in his head. It might be the first piece of good news they had received in awhile.

"No." he said to Roslin's inquiry about the Galactica. He then continued to explain what the call did entail. With his excitement hardly contained, Roslin watched as Zarek spoke. She could hear his words but they seemed to be out of sync with his lips, as everything appeared to slow down around her.


	6. Chapter 6

The CIC was rustling with life again as the crew was put back on alert. The lone remaining Basestar had finally returned fire, but along with it, three more Basestars had since jumped in just within Dradis range. They were closing in on the Galactica fast.

Amidst the flashing glow of red from the alarms, Adama gave thought to the current situation. The incoming missiles could not be adverted and there was no way to dispatch the vipers as they sat on the flight pods from their previous combat landings. The Galactica, now out numbered with the three other Basestar now in the vicinity, thoughts of the fleet paid visit to his wary mind. He continued to weigh his options or the lack of options in this case.

The missiles drew closer as did the three approaching Basestars. With every second that passed, his chest beat harder. A sensation he thanked the Gods he still had. He was at one time a heartbeat away from death and he had the scar down his chest to prove it. A few years later he was in the same position, this time the one who tried to take that beat away, gave it the opportunity to continue. He was not going to let Sharon's sacrifice go for not.

"Mr. Gaeta." Adama said with a scratchy tone.

"Yes Admiral?"

"Prepare for a blind jump."

Baltar was once again frantically pacing the command room's floor. He too was pondering his options. Much as Adama, he had little to chose. He rushed back to his command chair. He knew those three Basestars were there for him. He needed to escalate his plan. He quickly entered in the coordinates of the fleet. Now he was only a button push away from escaping. However, something all of a sudden caused him to delay.

"Do not develop a conscience now Gaius." Six intuitively said. "Do not forget that it was Adama who left you to die, alone on New Caprica. This is your chance to return the favor."

Baltar grind. "Conscience, what are you suggesting? I'm just…" Baltar pretended to look over the read out. His act did not bring amusement to Six "…looking over the coordinates. I don't want to end up in the middle of a sun."

Six gave Baltar a forceful stare. "Do it."

Baltar gave one last look at the Galactica before closing his eyes and initiating the jump sequence. In a flash, Baltar's Basestar was gone.

"Blind jump set sir. Preparing to jump in 10-9-8…" Gaeta continued the countdown.

Adama with every second passed, wondered if the fleet was still alive. Maybe those three Basestars just witnessed the end of humanity and came here to finish the job. Unfortunately, today was not the day for humanity to have its last breath or to feel its last heartbeat. With a slide of Adama's hand over his chest, he could hear Gaeta complete the countdown. In just a second of time, the Galactica vanished as the missiles rocketed by harmlessly at Galactica last position before jumping.

Somewhere in the void of space, the Galactica reappeared amongst unfamiliar stars. Adama quickly ordered Lt. Gaeta to continue working on the Navigation system so they could find their lost fleet.

Helo had since taken over for Communications officer Cassia. His dream still caught up in his head brought on his perpetual thoughts of Sharon and his daughter, Hera. He had always hoped that Sharon would prove herself to Adama. He just wished it did not have to be the ultimate sacrifice of death. His daughter, thought dead was actually alive. Found very early on by the Cylons during the occupation of New Caprica, he never saw her. By the time, Galactic and the Pegasus returned to New Caprica's orbit she been taken off world. Eventually Adama told him about the plot to hide Hera from her birth parents and the Cylons. Shortly after Sharon had died, Adama felt enough guilt as it were. Adama knew that Helo deserved at least that much.

Between his thoughts, Helo gazed upon the Dradis screen and saw one single blip appear. At first glance, it did not appear to be Cylon or Colonial. He began to obtain confirmation of exactly what it was. "Admiral, I'm picking something up on Dradis."

Colonel Tigh sighed in aggravation. "How the hell did the Cylons track a blind jump? We didn't even know where the Frak we where going."

"It doesn't appear to be Cylon, sir." Helo replied, diligently working on the confirmation.

"It can't be the fleet. That would be a miracle."

"It doesn't appear to be Colonial, either Sir."

"Can you get any kind of confirmation?" Adama inquired.

"No." Helo said, taking his eyes off the Dradis screen, for only a moment. "It has no recognition codes sir. It also appears to be no larger then a viper."

Adama looked up at the Dradis. Unsure of what this blip on the Dradis might be. The way humanities day was going, it could not be good news. "Send out Starbuck and Apollo in their Vipers. Have them escort a Raptor to investigate. Tell them, if it appears to be a threat, destroy it."

Baltar's Basestar appeared in another flash of light just outside of the civilian fleet's Dradis range. Now Baltar would come to the rescue of the fleet. In a little while, he would be standing in front of Tom Zarek, explaining the danger the fleet was in and that he, Gaius Baltar would protect the fleet due to Galactica's absence. It was a brilliant plan.

So he thought, as he was drag away to a makeshift prison cell on Colonial One. "You're making a terrible mistake." Baltar shouted. Zarek watched, as Baltar was drag away by two other men. Baltar, kicking and screaming, looked over to see Roslin staring at him. Her face of disgust spoke for her in many ways. This did not surprise him. Their history was one with bitter taste. Perhaps no one hated him as much as Roslin. He did not blame her, but he did not care for her ill feelings towards him either. Without humanity or the Cylons protection, he was alone again with no one to turn to for help. He had since stopped resisting his arrest. His trial would be soon. The quorum of twelve would find him guilty of treason and sentenced to death for the crimes he had committed. It came with a sickening comfort that he would not be facing death alone. Soon, the Cylons would arrive and destroy the fleet. Either way, he was a dead man, again.

One Hour Prior to Baltar's arrival on Colonial One, Zarek had sent out two civilian ships to scout the area. After they where done with their scouting, they reported to the President themselves by wireless. They had amazing news to report.

One of the President's female aids answered the call after only two short rings. She quickly handed the receiver to the President.

"Yes?" Zarek answered.

A distant voice replied. "Mr. President," his voice crackling over the line "you won't believe what we found."

"What did you find?" Zarek asked, waiting with baited ears.

"A ship, it was just floating out there. It does not appear to be Colonial or Cylon. I don't know where it came from?"

"Where is it now?" the president asked.

"In our cargo hold." The voice said as he continued. "There is one last thing, President."

Zarek hesitated before asking. "What is that?"

Zarek just heard static for a few more seconds. The voice then pumped through the receiver. "There are three humans aboard, they are cryogenically frozen. Two adults and a child, can you believe it?"

Zarek stood there saying nothing. His amazement no longer contained, he let out a smile. Laura Roslin sat a few rows away wondering if the call involved news of the Galactica.

She requested the attention of the President. With a wave, he gestured her over. He had now since hung up the call. Once at his desk covered with request from throughout the fleet, she inquired about the call. To her dismay, it was not about the Galactica.

Though it was not, Zarek continued to speak of the conversation he just had. The world around her slowed down. She could not believe it. They had discovered other humans that were definitely not apart of their fleet. It was amazing news, to say the least. Could these people be from Earth? The question hardly registered. She wanted to share the news with someone. That someone that first came to mind reminded her that the Galactica's location was still unknown. Her thoughts of the Galactica swelled. She returned to her seat and sat back down next to the window. She stared back out at the stars. Hoping that soon, it would not be the stars she saw, but of Galactica's port side.


	7. Chapter 7

In the cold vacuum of space two Vipers, piloted by Apollo and Starbuck exit from the Galactica's launch tubes. Just moments before that, Lt. Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson departed from Galactica with Helo in her Colonial Raptor. From behind the Raptor as it headed toward the unknown object the two Vipers approached from each side.

"Racetrack, this is Apollo. Starbuck and I have your six. Approach the object in question with caution. At the first sign of trouble I want you to high tale it back to Galactica. We'll take over from there."

"Roger that Apollo." Racetrack replied over the wireless.

As the Raptor crawled closer to the unknown object under the protection of the two Vipers, Apollo stared out at the stars ahead, hoping to get a visual. With only stars in his sight he recalled back, just only a year ago when Galactica finally reached the Lagoon Nebula. It was a welcome sight and even further proof that humanity was edging closer to Earth. The thought of this brought back memories of when the realization of the importance of this nebula was discovered back on Kobol, inside the tomb of Athena. At the time, Adama had remarked how far away the Nebula was to their current position. He couldn't have been more right as it had taken six years to travel to. That was a year ago, and the excitement of their arrival near the nebula had simmered quite a bit since then. Only the discovery of Earth could bring back such a sense of excitement. In a few hours Apollo will discover he couldn't be more wrong.

Laura Roslin had only been in the cargo hold of the Diomedes for a few seconds before the smell of rotting flesh caused her to become ill. The handkerchief over her nose and mouth gave her little relief from the unsettling scent. The only thing keeping her from turning back around and running to the main hallway outside the cargo hold to vomit was the small alien transport ship that stood before her. It resembled nothing she had ever seen. It neither shared resemblance to Colonial or Cylon design. It was sleek, with a smooth surface. It was twice the size of a Raptor in comparison. It had no windows, except for the front where the cockpit was located. The cockpit in size had enough space to seat two adult humans.

Roslin accompanied President Zarek and a pair of Presidential aids as they were escorted closer to the ship by the Diomedes captain.

"I apologize for the smell. It appears this transport ship lost all source of power, preventing the cryogenic system from operating. Looks like they never woke up, the poor bastards." The Diomedes ship hand remarked, quickly giving an apologetic smile to the group due to his harsh language.

Zarek gave an alarming stare at Roslin. "Are you saying the three humans aboard are dead, Captain?" Zarek replied, his sleeve serving as the only deterrent from the horrific smell.

The Captain of the Diomedes pulled down a latch on what appeared to be a door on the side of the ship. With a gush of air and an even more potent odor, the door opened down to the floor revealing steps to the other side of the door.

"See for yourself." The captain said in response to Zarek's question with a gesture to enter the ship.

The smell was putrid, but once again the curiosity and amazement of the situation took precedence over the debilitating odor. Within the ship, three glass-encased canisters large enough to hold adult human life were positioned horizontally along the walls. To Roslin they looked like glass-encased caskets now, as all three passengers, the captain had informed had perished amongst the ships power failure. Two of the three canisters were located to the Starboard side of the ship and the third was located on the port side. Roslin approached the two canisters on the starboard side. Roslin stood between the two canisters now. Inside the two adult rotting corpses appeared. The bodies decayed beyond recognition of what they might have once looked like. Human in form, but that was the only lasting resemblance to humanity these bodies shared to their current onlookers.

"By the gods. I don't believe it" Zarek said behind Roslin with his attention on the lone bed to the port side.

_By the Gods is right_, she thought as she looked down on one of the adults. The question of why these passengers aboard this alien ship were even out here alone didn't even register yet amongst any of them. It was bitter sweet, Roslin felt. Where did they come from? Are they from Earth? It was a question she first asked her self the second she was told of their discovery. That question now will never be answered. Roslin soon turned to Zarek, to ask what their next move would be. Before she could ask, she noticed something that was different from the prior two canisters that were void of power. The lone bed that Zarek stood next to had a console that was beaming of life. Lights that she had no idea of their purpose flashed sporadically. The console was beaming with life, she soon wondered if the body of the child that lay within that glass-encased bed did the same.

Racetrack had enabled the Raptor's floodlight once it appeared they where in visual range of the object. She had been working the light for several minutes without finding object in question. "Where the frak is it, Helo?" she said in frustration.

In the aft of the Raptor, Helo sat in front of his Dradis display with a look of puzzlement. He continued to tap keys in front of him. He appeared to not get the response he was looking for from the display. "I don't get it, it should be right here."

"Run another sweep." Apollo's voice buzzed through the wireless.

Helo did just that. Two minutes later the results started filtering through. It took him just a few minutes more to decipher what the computer was spitting out onto the screen before him.

"I found it. It's actually right above us." Helo announced.

With a pull of the Raptors controls Racetrack headed in the direction directly above their current position. Within moments Racetrack could see something off in the distance. "I have a visual."

"Copy that, Racetrack." Starbuck said as she too could see something appear from the void of space.

With the floodlight blazing, Racetrack moved in on the object floating aimlessly in space. The closer they became to the object it started to take shape, it appeared to have a large central mass with two extended pieces reaching out on each side of the object like robotic arms. This characteristic brought an alarmed sense of terror through their wary bodies. That sense seemed to dissipate as the three ships closed in. The closer they were to the object it began to resemble a similar object they where all familiar with. This fact, gave them an uneasy sense, as it was the last thing they expected.

Racetrack had slowed the raptor to a stop as it stood at a standstill in front of the object. With the floodlight now flashed upon the object they could confirm their ongoing speculation. At the top of the central mass of the object was a dish lying on its back pointing in a vertical direction with an antenna coming out from its center with another smaller dish at the antenna's end. The robotic like arms that brought the uneasiness, appeared to not be robotic at all but extensions that carried surveillance equipment and other smaller antennas. It appeared to be voided of life. Left to drift endlessly in space.

"It's a satellite. A Fraking satellite." Starbuck said, confirming the others speculation.

"But, from where?" Apollo asked.

Helo now up front with Racetrack looked over the satellite. "It sure as hell can't be Colonial."

"Well, someone built it." Apollo said, with his mind on Earth. "Let's bring it into Galactica. We can get a closer look at it then. Maybe we'll find some markers or something." Apollo ordered.

To Roslin the child appeared to be no older then seven or eight years old. She had golden blond hair and slept with a peaceful look upon her face, unaware of the two deaths that had occurred. So young and yet she could have answers to so many questions. Roslin wiped away some of the condensation on the glass to get a clearer look of the girl, but her effort ended in a nullifying result.

"I thought you said the ship lost all power?" Zarek asked, turning the captain of the Diomedes.

The captain scratched his head, thinking of an answer to give. "It did. But, it appears who ever built these cryo-beds, set up a secondary power supply just to this bed. All ship wide systems failed a long time ago. If we didn't find this ship when we did, my guess is she would have been a goner in about a day or two."

"Well, that does not appear to be the case. When do you think we can remove her from this thing?" Roslin asked with a swift pace to her words.

The captain stuttered his answer. "I don't have a clue about this cryogenics stuff, never mind the fact I don't know what the damn I'm looking at with this console."

Silence gave company to the odor that was still apparent as they stood beside the cryogenically frozen young girl. They all thought the obvious to bring Doctor Cottle to the Diomedes, but he was aboard the Galactica at the time of the Cylon attack. This was a matter of science. Only those familiar with this aspect could help this girl.

Roslin pondered every possibility. There was nothing that came to mind other then sending out a blind request to the fleet. "We can send something out to the fleet. With any luck someone will have some knowledge about this."

Zarek eyes lit up. "We might not have to."


End file.
